NATO

"As we have said many times before, NATO expansion does not make the world more stable and secure," Peskov told reporters after Finland's top politicians announced their support for an application for NATO membership, CNN reported. Peskov added that Russia's reaction will depend on the development of the NATO military infrastructure.

"In a nuclear war, NATO countries will be destroyed by us in half an hour. But we must not allow it," Rogozin wrote on Telegram, RT reported. According to him, the consequences of the exchange of nuclear strikes will certainly affect the state of the Earth. Rogozin also noted that the NATO countries are waging a war against Russia, although not declared.

Speaking at a youth summit in Brussels, Stoltenberg said, "We need to be prepared for the long term," BBC reported. He added that "there is absolutely the possibility that this war will drag on and last for months and years", the report said. NATO countries -- alongside nations that are not part of the alliance -- met in Ramstein, Germany, earlier this week to discuss how they can support Ukraine's defence and security.

Sweden and Finland have long been close to the organisation but have maintained formal non-alignment with NATO since the Cold War. Both may soon apply for membership amid the ongoing security crisis in Ukraine. The Russian Foreign Ministry has warned that Sweden and Finland would not gain anything by moving forward with the plan, RT reported.

The report submitted on Wednesday is a framework for a broader debate on foreign, security, and defence policy, and includes an assessment of how Finland can boost national defence capability and international defence cooperation, as well as the effects of possible NATO membership, Xinhua news agency reported.

US President Joe Biden has said he was in favour of Russia being excluded from the Group of 20 (G20). If Russia is not excluded, at least Ukraine should also be invited to the G20 group as an observer, Biden added at a press conference at the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) headquarters in Brussels

US President Joe Biden said that the NATO has "never been more united than it is today" in the face of Russia's ongoing war against Ukraine. Addressing the media after a NATO summit here on Thursday, Biden said that Russian President Vladimir Putin is "getting exactly the opposite of what he intended to have as a consequence of going into Ukraine".

Documents received from Ukrainian employees working at the laboratories were studied by Russian experts and have shown that Ukrainian biological projects were directly developed and approved by the Pentagon, the Ministry's spokesman Igor Konashenkov said on Thursday during a briefing.

The four new battle groups deployed along eastern part of the NATO alliance were approved on Thursday, Xinhua news agency reported. In total, there will now be eight NATO battle groups deployed along the eastern flank of the alliance, from the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea. The organisation's heads of states were called for an extraordinary meeting to discuss further support for Ukraine, in the context of the Russia-Ukraine conflict that started in February.

"The first step is the deployment of four new NATO battlegroups. In Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania, and Slovakia. Along with our existing forces in the Baltic countries and Poland, this means that we will have eight multinational NATO battlegroups all along the eastern flank. From the Baltic to the Black Sea," he said.